


Cover Up

by DarkAliceLilith



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/F, Mentions of past abuse, mundane AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 07:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19942720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkAliceLilith/pseuds/DarkAliceLilith
Summary: Tired of the tattoo she got from an ex, Maia seeks out popular tattoo artist Isabelle Lightwood to cover it up.





	Cover Up

**Author's Note:**

> For Shadowhunters WLW fic bingo's purple team prompt: tattoo parlor au.

Maia stared at sign on the window of the tattoo shop that said ‘Angelic Tattoos’ and took a deep breath. She had a consultation with their cover up specialist and she could help but to feel nervous. She took another deep breath and opened the door.

There was rock music blasting from the speakers and she could hear a tattoo machine whirring, as well as some laughing. She walked up to the counter and could see a blonde artists at work and he looked up when he noticed her. 

“What can we help you with?”

“I have an appointment with Izzy,” Maia replied, checking her watch to make sure she got the time right. She looked back at the artist who shut his machine off and stretched before turning towards the back of the shop to yell for Isabelle. 

“Iz! Hey, Izzy!”

“What!”

“Your client is here!”

Maia heard the clicking of heels then Isabelle walked out of one of the private rooms, a smile on her face, and Maia found herself momentarily stunned. She had seen pictures of Isabelle before, she was a pretty popular artist, but seeing her in person was much different. She was absolutely beautiful. 

Isabelle walked up to her and held out a hand. “You must be, Maia! How are you doing?”

“Good,” Maia replied, shaking her hand, her eyes glancing at the tattoos covering her arm. She looked back up at Isabelle. 

“If you’ll follow me, we can sit down where it’s a little more quiet. Jace here likes to blast the music.”

“Helps me work!” Jace called out as they walked passed him.

Isabelle just rolled her eyes and smiled. “Brothers.” She gestured towards the room she just came out of and Maia walked inside, taking one of the seats by the table there. Isabelle sat next to her. “So, we’re doing a coverup?”

Maia nodded. “Yeah, I made the poor decision to let an ex tattoo me,” she said, pulling her coat off so she could show Isabelle her arm. 

“Oh, I see why you want it covered up,” Isabelle said, running her fingers over the dark, raised lines of the wolf tattoo on Maia’s forearm. “It’s very blown out and scarred.”

“It’s not the only thing he left scarred,” Maia replied bitterly. She pointed at the prominent lines crossing her neck. “He wasn’t very nice towards the end.”

Isabelle frowned and sat back. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you fixed up.”

“I’ve been turned away before, they told me covering it up would be hard.”

“It will be a challenge, but it’s a good thing I specialize in cover ups,” Isabelle said, with a soft smile. “And scars. So if you ever want to cover up your neck, I’m your girl.”

“All these years, I kept it as a reminder to not let myself fall so deep again.”

“Understandable, but the offer is there if you ever want to,” Isabelle replied. “And I do those for free. Alec and I both do.”

Maia glanced across the shop where the eldest Lightwood was tattooing a client’s arm. She turned back towards Isabelle. “Do you have a lot of customers asking for that?”

“Plenty. We believe a lot in helping others. That’s why we host so many charity events here.”

“That’s really amazing.”

Isabelle smiled. “We try our best. So what were you thinking of covering this up with?”

“I’m going to school for marine biology, so maybe something related to that?”

“I think that would work well, I could place a lot of shading over where your old one is, and that should hide it better. Any specific animals you were looking at?”

Maia shook her head. “I’ll be happy with any animal.”

“And how big would you like it?”

“Well, I always like the idea of having a whole sleeve done, so perhaps for my forearm we could start an ocean scene?”

“Alright. Let me trace this up so I can work on placing better,” Isabelle said, grabbing some tracing paper. Maia held out her arm and Isabelle started to trace the old tattoo. “I’m thinking we should spread this out between a couple of sessions. Unless you really wanted to do it all at once.”

“We can break it up.”

“Okay, I will begin working on something and then I will contact you when it’s done. Shouldn’t take me much longer than a couple of days.”

Maia nodded. “Alright. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

Maia was studying for a test when she got a message from Isabelle saying her design was ready. A quick conversation got her an appointment that friday for the outline of the piece.

When she walked into the shop, she could see Isabelle leaning against the counter. She was on the phone with a planner in front of her and smiled when she noticed Maia. She held up a finger to indicate she would be with her in a moment and began to write something down. 

Once Isabelle hung up, she beckoned Maia forward. “Excited to see what I came up with?” She asked, leading Maia towards one of the stations. 

“Nervous mostly,” Maia replied, taking a seat as Isabelle looked through some sketches. 

“Twenty tattoos later and I still get nervous when I sit down for a new one, so don’t worry too much.” She found the one sketch she wanted and handed it over to Maia. “If there’s anything you want me to change about it, I will.”

Maia looked at the sketch in awe. A manta ray stood the focus on the piece, but surrounding it was little fish and coral. Looking at it, she knew it would fill up her entire forearm. “Wow. This is amazing!”

“You ready to do this then?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to get rid of this one.”

“Great! Let’s get started.”

Isabelle got everything she needed ready and pulled on a pair of gloves before gently taking Maia’s arm. She cleaned it quick and then placed the transfer paper on her arm. One she pulled it off, she let Maia take a look. 

“I placed the manta ray over the old tattoo so this way, once it’s all colored and shaded it, it should disguise it,” Isabelle explained.

Maia nodded. “I like it.”

“Great. Now if you want a break at anytime, just tell me.”

“Okay.”

The tattoo machine turned on and Isabelle leaned over Maia’s arm to begin. Maia grimaced as the needle inked her skin, but sat still, using her free hand to scroll through her phone to distract herself from the feeling. 

“You doing alright?” Isabelle asked after a few minutes, wiping away some excess ink before going back to do more. 

“It doesn’t feel too great, but I can ignore it.”

“Do you have other tattoos at all?”

“No, just this one. My ex wanted to tattoo me some more, but I told him I didn’t like the feeling and refused to let him come near me with another needle. Once we broke up, I just wanted this gone first, but no one wanted to do it.”

“Lucky you found me then.”

“Actually, my friend sent me your way. He said you’re a good friend of his.”

“Oh? Who is he?”

“Simon Lewis.”

“Oh! You’re that Maia! I was thinking that your name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. I’ve heard Simon talk about you before. He’s very sweet.”

“He is,” Maia said. “We dated for a minute, but I just wasn’t ready for a relationship yet. Thankfully, he was pretty understanding and we stayed really good friends. Which I am thankful for because I don’t have a lot of people I’m close to, and when I need someone to talk to he’s there.”

Isabelle smiled at her. “He really is a great listener.”

“Yeah, he is,” Maia said. “Can I ask how you got into tattooing?”

“Interested?”

“Just curious.”

“I was kinda dating this artist,” Isabelle replied, moving Maia’s arm into a different position to start working on the back. “And I just got inspired, so after my apprenticeship I convinced my brothers to follow my lead and eventually we opened shop.”

“And it’s just the three of you?”

“Sometimes we rent out spaces to other artists,” Isabelle answered. “But it’s just the three of us, four once our youngest brother is old enough to join us. Our parents are trying their hardest to not get him to follow us, but once Max has his mind made up, it is very, very difficult to change it.” She turned off the machine as the shop phone began to ring. She turned to where Jace’s station was only to find it empty and frowned. “I’ll be right back,” She said, pulling off her gloves and standing up.

While Isabelle was on the phone, Maia took the time to inspect what was already done on her arm. She could see the image starting to come together, smiling as she looked at the outline of the manta ray, it was bigger than anything else in the scene and she couldn’t wait until she could no longer see the old tattoo there.

“So,” Isabelle said as she walked back over to Maia. “Do you have anything planned for the rest of the day?”

Maia raised an eyebrow. “Plans?”

“Well, my only other client of the day cancelled, so would you like to try to finish this tonight?”

“I don’t have to be at the bar tonight and all my schoolwork is done so I don’t see why not.”

“You work at a bar?” Isabelle asked, sitting back down and pulling a new pair of gloves on. 

Maia nodded. “Yeah, The Hunter’s Moon. Have you heard of it?”

“I have, though I’ve never been there,” Isabelle replied. “When I go out, I usually go to Pandemonium. I like to dance.”

“Not much space to dance at The Hunter’s Moon, but there’s a pool table.”

Isabelle smiled and started the tattoo machine back up. “I should really stop by sometime. Everyone I know goes there, I just prefer dancing to drinking.”

“There’s more to do there than just drink,” Maia said. “We have really good food, and a lot of people will bring their family in for lunch or dinner.”

“You are very convincing,” Isabelle said, smiling. “I’ll check it out.” She wiped away some more access ink and took a look at Maia’s arm, making sure the outline looked good all around. “Do you want a drink or something before I start on the color?”

“I could use some water.” 

Isabelle pulled off her gloves and walked over to the small cooler near front. She grabbed a bottle out for each of them before walking back over to Maia and handing it over. “On the house.”

Maia smiled and accepted the drink, taking a few sips. “Thank you.”

“No problem. We’re going to be here a while so there’s no sense making you go thirsty.” Isabelle set her water down after a minute and started to look through her ink, pulling out other colors and getting them ready. “Now there is a chance that you will need to come back in for a touch up in a few weeks, but we don’t charge for those, unless you don’t take care of it properly which I’m sure you will. It’s just your skin is starting to get red and swell so making sure certain parts are fully colored will be hard.”

“That makes sense,” Maia said, capping her water and holding her arm out again. 

Isabelle cleaned her skin of any excess ink and blood before she started to color it in. “We should have this down in a few hours. You doing alright?”

“I’m starting to feel more pain, but I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, you tell me if you need me to stop. We can always come back to it another day.”

“I will.”

Towards the end of the tattoo, Maia was beginning to really feel the pain and her arm felt raw, but she pushed through it. Finally, Isabelle finished, gently cleaning off all the excess and leaning back. “Alright! You’re all done!”

Maia looked at her arm and a smile formed on her face. While she knew where her old tattoo was, she couldn’t see it at all. “It’s beautiful!” Maia said. “Oh wow, Izzy.”

Isabelle beamed at her. “I’m glad you like it. Do mind if I take a picture of it?” Maia shook her head and Isabelle snapped a couple of pictures from different angles. “I’ll make sure to send you those. Did you want to take your own?”

Maia shook her head. “I can take it later.”

“Alright. I need to wrap it up now,” Isabelle said. “It’s pretty late already, so I would suggest taking this off in the morning. Make sure you keep it clean with soap and water, but try not to rub it. Also, stay away from anything that has a fragrance in it. We do have tattoo aftercare available in store, but you can also use some A+D Ointment on it as well. It is much cheaper than the aftercare we have.”

“Alright sounds good.”

“I’ll also send you home with a paper that states everything I just said,” Isabelle said. “I’m glad that you like your tattoo, and perhaps I’ll see you again?”

“If I do want more tattoos in the future, I think that I know where to come,” Maia replied, pulling out her wallet to pay Isabelle. She gave her a generous tip as well. “Thank you so, so much. I am so glad that I won’t have to look at that ugly reminder anymore.”

“It’s been my pleasure,” Isabelle said, walking with Maia to the front door. “Have a safe trip home and if you need a touch-up, just send me a message and I will get you in.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Izzy.”

“Goodbye.”

A week later as Maia was working, she saw a familiar face walking up to the bar and sitting down. She set down the glasses she had been cleaning and walked over to the tattoo artist, a smile on her face. “Hey, Izzy.”

“Maia! I was hoping you would be working tonight,” Isabelle said, smiling at her. “How is your tattoo?”

“Looking good,” Maia replied, holding up her arm to show Isabelle. “I get tons of compliments on it, and I’ve made sure people know who did it so you should see some clients soon.”

“I’m always looking for more people to tattoo,” Isabelle said, grabbing the menu and glancing at it. “You have any virgin drinks I could try?”

“Plenty,” Maia replied. “Anything you’re looking for in particular?”

“Something very, very sweet,” Isabelle replied. 

“Alright, I’ll get that out to you in a minute.”

Maia mixed up the drink and walked back over to Isabelle. “Here you are. It’s an orange creamsicle mocktail.”

Isabelle took a drink and nodded in approval. “Delicious.”

Maia smiled and watched Isabelle for a moment before saying, “So, I’m actually off in an hour. Do you think maybe you and I could grab some dinner?”

“Are you asking me on a date, Maia?”

“Would you be interested to go on a date with me?” Maia asked, trying her best not to sound nervous. Isabelle was beautiful and the hours they spent together during the tattoo session talking had made Maia want to get to know her better. 

“I think I would love to go on a date with you, Maia.”

Maia couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “Great! I’ll find you when my shift is over.”

“Alright, my brothers are here so I’m gonna go kick their ass in pool.”

“Have fun.”

“I will!”


End file.
